It's a 'Zo out there!

The town centre or main square in any Mexican village or city is historically called its zocalo. Originally this was a local meeting place with crude band pavilion, benches for courting, and bare dirt playing field. These days the zocalo is paved, lit up, commercialized, and even called the more modern jardin ("garden").

On Isla Mujeres, the zocalo is still the community action spot day or night. It is bordered by the city hall, the cathedral, the basketball court, the main grocery store, a performance stage, and cart vendors of everything from DVD's to flan. Talk about location, location, location.

Yesterday alone the zocalo held a basketball tournament, wedding (check out the bridesmaids' dresses!), food court, book fair, and the beginning of the processions for the Virgin of Guadeloupe. Half the island population showed up for one or all of these. I passed on the DVD's but the flan was yummy.

There's Nothing Like An Old Ferry

Twin cargo ferries ---- MS Isla Mujeres and MS Isla Blanca ---have been carrying trucks, cars, and foot passengers like me from the mainland for about 45 years. They were built in Louisiana and motored the 500 miles across the Gulf of Mexico in 1965 when the world was bigger. Low and slow, these oldies were classic plodders with saltwater spraying on the vehicles. When you walked onto the steel gangplank you didn't expect any comforts. And you would be right --- the 45-minute passage was on a pocked steel upper deck in sun and wind. I loved every journey on these tubs, the closest thing to an old Humphrey Bogart movie but in rust-and-diesel instead of black-and-white.

Things have changed. This past summer one of the twins, the Isla M, was retired, like an old friend who just disappears from your contact list with no forwarding address. In it's place is a new/old ferry re-christened the Sergio Gracia Aguilar. It was built in South Korea in 2006 but motored in 2010 across the Pacific Ocean, through the Panama Canal, and up to the Caribbean! Think about how the world has gotten smaller. That journey took 2 months and they had to carry huge tanks of extra diesel fuel, but here it is. Must have been a great price!

The Sergio is faster and prevents salt water hitting the vehicles, but has a smaller capacity. And someone forgot to measure the gangplank --- it didn't match the pier and a new concrete ramp had to be built before it could be used! Oh sure, passengers now have comfy indoor seating with giant plasma TV screen. But if I have a choice of sailing times, there's nothing like the old ferry.

U.S. Thanksgiving

Many of my family, friends, and followers in the USA are celebrating their Thanksgiving holiday today. Overeating, overspending, overTVwatching ---- what a country! Here, there is little American presence as there are way more European languages and even Japanese in the streets. JAX SportsBar can't fill it's 20 seats. Is this another sign of the problems in the US economy? Airport security hassles?

I'll try to find the NFL game on the local TV, my old loyalty to the frustrating Detroit Lions. It will be in Spanish, so I get a language lesson while I watch to see if there's snow on the playing field! And here's YOUR lesson:

El dia de accion de gracias feliz!

Happy TD!

Cultural Left-Overs

All that festival and music last weekend left us cultured-out at the upper end of talent. But wandering the streets gives a reminder that life goes on at all levels of local culture. The butcher shop, boys goofing around, girls playing hard, motorcycles ---- they're all here but different. There's even the typical Cat Lady who emerges after dark to feed the street cats. She should get them neutered at the free clinic! Anyway, how's that for a lead-in to these pictures? Actually they're just Tuesday Left-Overs!!

Dancing, with the stars

Although the trio from Cuba got the crowd amazed and cheering, there were other acts that dazzled on the starry tropical night #2. Much of it honoured the anniversary of Mexican independence, with lightning-fast folklore dances that symbolized girl-smiles-at-boy, boy-charms-girl, boy-might-get-girl. Another pair danced gracefully with fat wine bottles on their heads----?!?!? Real Yucatan Mayans reenacted how their ancient ancestors cut out the beating heart of a virgin as sacrifice to the gods. Don't ask how they found a virgin. Ghosts in serapes dragged an audience member around the stage.

All of the narration is in Spanish, all the music authentic to its country of origin. This Festival is for Mexicans, with no pop music from the U-S-of-You-Know-Where. Still, there he was: a Justin Beiber clone!

Cuban Recycling = Music to our Ears

A Cuban trio of street musicians stole the show last night on Day 2 of the music festival. Any consumer good is scarce in Cuba, let alone musical instruments. So this group makes toe-tapping, hand-clapping music from all manner of items that you recycle at home ---- you DO recycle, don't you?? There were the old stand-byes of washboard as banjo and comb-on-paper kazoo. But here's a partial list of what else they used:

thin cardboard box + wires= ukelele
milk jug + board neck + strings= guitar

large pail + thick string + tin can = bass guitar

big tin cans = conga and bongo drums

partially-filled glass bottles = pan flute

cutoff syringe= slide flute
bottle caps strung on a wire = castanets

bottle caps on wood frame=tambourine

pebbles in a water bottle=maracas

snorkel tube with holes = clarinet

And my #1 favourite: a funnel + plastic tubing = French horn!

It was an amazing act, with audience participation and huge ovations. Seems to me this should be a real inspiration for street buskers, elementary teachers, and anybody who just wants to create a ---- literally --- pickup band!!

Rowdy Kids Demonstrate for Revolution!

A colourful annual event in all Mexican centres is the combination of International Children's Day AND the celebration of Mexico's Revolution, both on Nov. 20. Unlike Canada and the USA, the birth rate in Mexico (hello --- Catholic!!) is still high and rising. So, no surprise that on an island of 12,000 people at least 1,500 kids were in the parade, and another 500 were in strollers along the route with the proud families. Each of the dozens of schools showed their stuff in gymnastics, hoops, and bugle-drum bands. But the crowd favourite is always the little kids dressed as revolutionaries. Viva Modero! Viva Zapata! Viva Ice Cream!

Party Central!

This weekend is likely the most festive of the year on this island. First, there is the 5th annual Caribbean Maya Festival which is a huge cultural get-together. Dancers, musicians, singers, and all types of artists are on display for 3 days. And they paid their own way from Cuba, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Peru, and elsewhere in Mexico, to come to this out-of-the-way place (pop. 12,000). One way to tell they are new here is that one of the groups came over on a highway tour bus --- never seen on this island because the roads are too narrow and the wires too low!

The second Big Event is the local celebration of International Children's Day, Nov. 20. Kids are a beloved part of Mexican culture and we'll be going to their parade this afternoon.

And the Really Big Event is today, the 200th anniversary of Mexican independence AND the 100th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution. Cries of Viva la Revolution! ring out on the streets. More heartfelt than singing O! Canada? More sincere than God Bless America? More on that later; here are some impressions of the weekend kick-off event, held in the town square (zocalo) on a balmy breezy evening.

Naval Security? Try the Back Door!

Our rear patio literally overlooks the Mexican Naval Station. It's by far the largest complex on the island and reminds me of the tropical U.S. naval base in Key West Florida. You would think either is a most desirable place to be posted, and both watch out for Cubans! The sailors here rescue Cuban refugees at sea, patrol against drug smuggling, and do a lot of training. I doubt if a shot has ever been fired except for practice.

The base was set up here for World War 1 and has been upgraded and enlarged over the years. There are about 20 very fast interceptor/patrol boats with not 2 but 3 magnum outboard motors each. Plus a coast guard cutter and small cruiser.

No tours are given, and there seems to be maximum paranoia about photography of the base. Requests to take pictures are always turned down, so you have to take long shots from across the street or use a zoom lens. The irony is that around the back of the buildings, anyone can stroll in and shop at their on-base store, no questions asked!!

Little Shop of Tortillas

Long ago there was the town bakery back home; is there still one in your block? In Mexico, all working-class colonias still need and support a local tortilleria. The tortilla, or "little (corn) cake" is a part of every meal. So every family buys fresh tortillas every day, sometimes from boys who pedal their bikes and peddle their tortillas door-to-door! The going price around here is about 56 cents a kilo, or 22 cents a pound ---- about 2 cents each. Sort of like "give us this day our daily bread", but really affordable.

Mama Lolita's shop is a family business with the father mixing the dough, the daughters tending the machinery, the son stacking the corn flour sacks (100 pounds each) and Mama holding it all together. They go through a sack of flour each day producing/selling about 1,000 little cakes a day for their 5-square block colonia. Excellent in fresh fish tacos!!

Strip Tease (and the Explosion)

A main feature of this island for at least 31 years has been a 6,500 foot asphalt airstrip occupying the narrow middle between the two populated ends. From the air it looks, appropriately, like the spine of a fish. Over the decades I had seen military training flights and even scheduled service from Cancun ---- only a 10 minute hop from the mainland! And I always wondered: if there are so many private yachts here, why aren't there a lot of private aircraft on the tarmac?? This length of runway can handle aircraft right up to turboprop and private jets.

But for a few years now the airstrip and its control tower have been abandoned and unused. Even if you wanted to land here now, the asphalt is pocked and pebbled from the heat and salt air. It seems a waste of valuable land, if not a tourist draw. This morning we saw a helicopter on the pad, basically a Mexican coast guard craft. It stood out because of it's rarity.

The other news today is the explosion at a luxury hotel south of here. Five Canadians and two Mexicans were killed in what seems to be a freak buildup of marsh gas that ignited somehow. We're not affected at all except to be reminded once again to live life to the fullest.